A Naruto Christmas Story
by mjnousak
Summary: The holidays sure are interesting in Konoha. I wrote this 2 years ago, but I figured I'd post it here in spirit of the holiday. Merry Christmas. Warning: it's a long one also contains NaruHina and SasuSaku. also has a VERY LARGE NONCANON TWIST.


Christmas Eve Mission

Naruto smiled as he watched the snow fall at a gentle pace, it had been eight years since he had become a ninja, he was more strong willed than ever before, more matured as many had put it, and happy. Yet, he always like Christmas so much more than any other time of the year. What he wouldn't tell anyone was that he, in his youth, never had gotten a Christmas present from anyone except Iruka, which was always a lot of ramen coupons, or the Third Hokage, who always gave him a fresh supply of ninja scrolls and tools to use.

He also received them from a strange secret Santa who never revealed themselves, but always left him a small gift with a note attached wishing him a Merry Christmas. Not even his teammates had decided he apparently was worth their time to buy a gift for. Or they just didn't know he hadn't ever received a gift before. He had thought nothing of it though. Even if he had wanted to, he couldn't afford to buy people gifts for Christmas. The whole village used to try and kill him, now they just left him alone. Recently though, Tsunade, Jiraya, and Shizune had begun to give him gifts.

Tsunade's were often related to gambling, like the miniature slot machine she had gotten him three years ago. She had also given him a few scrolls on chakra control she had written for herself and Sakura. They instructed on how to use chakra to enhance punches and kicks. They weren't at the level of Sakura or Tsunade, but adding an extra punch to his attacks always helped.

Jiraya had often gotten him copies of his infamous books series, the latter of which Naruto had stored away. He now was the only person, aside from his former sensei, to own the entire "Make-Out-Paradise" Series. He had never read the books, deciding that he would read them when he actually had free time, which never came. But Jiraya had also given him a few photos of his mother and father. But with Jiraya's death at the hands of Pein, he hadn't been able to receive any more gifts from the pervy sage anymore.

Shizune had gotten him books on medical jutsu and herbs he could use on missions. He had found them useful and frequently referred to them when someone on his squad was injured and they were in a remote location where some of the rarer herbs grew. He now owned the complete series of "Useful Herbs for the Medical Ninja" which was frequently updated. He was looking forward to his new copy this year.

He was walking with his teammates to a meeting with Tsunade about a special mission. He wore his usual orange spiral emblazoned shirt underneath his dark black and orange winter jacket. His pants were orange as well, but darker than the ones he wore when he was thirteen. His winter boots were all black, laces and all. He stopped his walk and examined the snow falling. His hair had remained just as spiky as it had been in his youth. He had allowed it to grow out in the back and tied it into a short ponytail. His bangs had also grown out a little more, making him look like The Fourth Hokage.

"Christmas… I hope it's just as happy for everyone as it always has been." He thought, smiling as he remembered dropping in on his teammates every year with his own gifts for them. Sasuke would accept his gift with a smirk and a smug thanks. Which, from him was considered a small miracle. Sakura would hug him in thanks and open her gift excitedly. Then she would always apologize for not getting him anything, and promising to do it next year. But Naruto never expected 'next year' to come. He always had fun on Christmas anyway.

"Ohy! Dobe! Are you coming or what?" Sasuke shouted at the blonde. Frowning as Naruto had stopped walking. The Uchiha was wearing a deep blue winter jacket along with black pants. The Uchiha symbol emblazoned on the back of his jacket. He also wore earmuffs that matched his jacket, the Uchiha symbol decorated each side. His boots matched Naruto's, they were even the same shade of black. But Sasuke's had a zipper going along the sides rather than the laces Naruto's had down the middle. Sasuke's hair had stayed the same style as he had kept it during their years as teammates, with the exception that his bangs were now grown down past his shoulders.

Naruto chuckled as he turned to his teammate, he had managed to bring Sasuke back three years after he had left. The battle had been a pain in the ass, but he dragged his broken body and Sasuke's back to Konoha, where they were both greeted with cold stares. Naruto got the stares from a lot of villagers for beating up the last Uchiha. Sasuke had gotten a few from the Jonin and even Sakura had been very mad at him initially. But both of them told the others haters to back off. It also hadn't hurt that Sasuke had proclaimed on the day that he got out of the hospital that he considered Naruto his brother, and anyone who hurt Naruto could take it up with him.

Sasuke had also explained that he did not regret going to Orochimaru because it had given him a lot more power, but when Itachi gave his life for him and gave him the mangekyou sharingan, and heard his brothers sad tale, he admitted, he was more willing to stay in Konoha. The Akatsuki had invited him into their ranks, but he refused and decided to go on his own, he had even left team Snake. As Kakashi pointed out, with Itachi dead, Sasuke had to get started on restoring his clan. The Akatsuki seemed to be holding back on their plans to attack Konoha without Sasuke being there to back them. Naruto supposed it was because with a sharingan master and himself being able to access the fifth level of his full power, a third of which could easily allow him to level a village, the Akatsuki decided they needed to gather reinforcements before they would make a move.

Naruto and Sasuke had kept up a fierce rivalry and would often enter their more evil, or as Naruto called it, demonic, fighting styles when sparring. Sasuke had actually created his own curse mark level three where his body integrated his own chakra with the curse mark's. This allowed his to gain his cursed chidori and wings without his skin changing tone. Naruto had his fox forms. Sasuke often would strive to make Naruto go to the next level.

Naruto, with the rigorous training, had gained control of the five tailed mode. He rarely went past 3 tails because he often had to go into a deep sleep for many days before he could wake up. Naruto seemed to have also received a gift from his "personal demon". Kyuubi had developed "fox eyes" that "saw through all deception". What it broke down to was that Kyuubi had used demonic abilities to change Naruto's eyes to a permanent reddish orange color. These new eyes gave him complete immunity to the sharingan's effects, and any genjutsu. But they cost him a lot of his chakra to use, so he rarely used their full effect for more than a few seconds unless he and Sasuke were going all out in a spar.

The Kyuubi had taken to communicating with Naruto on a regular basis, often throwing in her own opinion. Naruto considered her his own personal teacher. She always seemed to wear the same outfit. A blood red kimono and red wooden sandals. Her eyes were a fiery red and her pupils were slitted. Her hair, which was also blood red, was in a bun at the back of her head, a pony tail flowing out of it. She also had four red chopsticks going through it. Giving the illusion of nine tails sticking out the back of her bun when someone looked at her from the back.

"Kit, are you sure I can't kill him?" Kyuubi asked him in his mindscape.

"No." Naruto thought back. The revelation that the fox with the deep bass and demonic voice in his head was female had caused him to laugh for three hours in a small ball before he could talk properly. Now that she had dropped her guise, Kyuubi revealed she had a feminine voice. Kyuubi had explained that she had kept that form for the obvious reason that Naruto had not been mature enough before to accept the fact that there was a woman living inside his head. She had chosen to reveal herself to him on his 18th birthday, because he seemed "mature enough". Naruto's laughing fit had made her want to strangle him.

"You realize if I ever get out, they are first on my list after you?" She said, rolling her eyes. Her host had grown up, but still irritated her. She respected him more than she did most humans, but still talked down to him.

Naruto found it annoying how Kyuubi always talked down to him and never offered any real positive comments. But her remarks had become less and less snide over the years. To Naruto, it was a reassuring sign.

"Comon Naruto! We don't want to be late for the meeting!" Sakura yelled. She was holding Sasuke's hand as they walked. Sakura was wearing a red jacket, much like Sasuke's, except built for her feminine body rather than his masculine one. Her breasts had grown out a bit more as well. This had initially caused her much joy until she had to knock around more guys for staring at her than before. Her pants were a pale shade of pink that almost matched her hair. Her boots where heeled and a slightly lighter shade of pink, with little cherry blossom printed onto them. She had grown her hair to match that of Tsunade's except it was pink rather than blonde.

She and Sasuke had started dating a few weeks after Sasuke had been dragged broken and bleeding back to the village by Naruto. Sakura had tended to both of them as often as she could. Her feelings for both of them were made evident as she began to stay with Sasuke more often, but always spent time with Naruto. When Sasuke asked her out, she simply hugged him and smiled in response. They were very close since then.

Naruto was initially hurt by her decision to date Sasuke, but he accepted it and bounced back as usual. Sakura had often come to him for advice when Sasuke seemed to be acting odd and vice versa. So Naruto never really felt out of the loop.

Sakura had calmed down quite a bit through the years. Without her temper flaring up as much had made her more pleasant to be around in Naruto's opinion. But he thought that mostly out of happiness that she didn't clobber him frequently.

Sakura also found his company more bearable because he had matured and was much calmer and quieter than he used to be. She had to admit that she felt a strong bond with him and if she saw anyone mocking him, her old temper would flare up and burn the poor individual who harmed her "brother". She had of course learned of the Kyuubi and thought nothing less of Naruto for it. If nothing else, it infuriated her that everyone had persecuted him for it. Though she felt a slight twinge of guilt when she remembered that she had knocked him around for no reason. But she still thought less of anyone who hurt him for the demon than she did herself for knocking him around. She figured that at least she didn't do it for something he had absolutely no control over.

"I'm coming already, geez!" Naruto shouted, catching up to his "brother" and "sister". "You guys know I can always catch up to you!" he shouted happily to them.

"Yeah, but you always seem to drift off into your own little world dobe." Sasuke said, smirking.

"I was just thinking about Christmas, its tomorrow ya know!" he retorted. "And you're one to talk, I see you and Sakura fantasizing about each other enough." He retorted, causing a blush to form on both their cheeks.

"You baka, we do not!" Sakura said, giggling slightly as she said it. Because she had been caught fantasizing once or twice when she had been taking care of Naruto in the hospital. He smiled at these moments of weakness from them. It showed him that even a goof like him could keep some tricks up his sleeve.

"Ohy, you guys are going to make us later than Kakashi if you don't pick up the pace." Sasuke said, half dragging Sakura as he increased his walking pace. Naruto laughed and increased his as well, ensuring that he kept up with his friends.

"So, do you understand?" Tsunade asked, even after the eight years Naruto knew her, she still kept up her infamous age hiding jutsu. Her buxom figure still sat behind her desk, though she had gotten much faster at her paperwork and actually finished much more often than before. Her office had been decorated for Christmas. There was garland and ornaments stuck on her wall. There were even a few lights around the door frame. She also wore a Santa hat for good measure.

"I suppose so, but isn't that a weird mission Granny?" Naruto asked. He didn't really understand the whole aspect himself. It seemed like a waste of time to him.

"I mean no disrespect Hokage, but isn't that kind of a waste of time for ninja of our ranks?" Sasuke asked. He and Naruto were both ANBU class, but neither had tried for the ANBU tests. Neither of them felt like wearing a mask all day and night, so they just took missions as they were handed to them. But this was just insulting to him.

"I agree with Sasuke, this does seem a little below our ranks, no offense meant my lady." Sakura said, frowning slightly. This was indeed below their rankings, they often received A and B rank missions, even an occasional S rank. This would qualify as a D or an E rank.

"Listen the orphans need someone to show them a good time, and even though this is below your ranks, you three qualify the best!" Tsunade said, trying to contain her irritation.

"And how the hell do we qualify for this?" Sasuke asked. He hardly qualified himself for an entertainer. He supposed fire jutsu would be useful for warming up on cold nights, but it certainly wasn't his idea of mission material.

"You" Tsunade said, pointing to Sasuke with her finger. "Are best for this because you have the best ability to demonstrate what can happen if you have friends who care about your ass." Tsunade said, giving Sasuke a death glare as if daring him to question her. "That, and I couldn't get Hatake to get his sorry ass down there for the event, so you're the ONLY other option." She muttered something about Kakashi and Shizune before ceasing her speech.

He seemed calm, but was slightly hurt at the comment. It was true that if he didn't have his friends, especially Naruto, his ass would probably be dead by now, perhaps by said friend's hand.

"You" Tsunade said, now turning her glare to Sakura "Are a perfect example of what passionate care and determination can do in tough times."

Sakura had to admit, she had doubled and quadrupled her efforts in healing when she had heard that Sasuke and Naruto were both in need of intensive care. This sudden spurt in effort had allowed her to advance much further in her studies even more than Tsunade had predicted.

"And you" Tsunade said, now pointing her finger at Naruto "you are a perfect example that even living a sad life can result in a good person."

Naruto frowned slightly at this. He did not like discussing his youth, despite the majority of the village had realized that he wasn't the demon itself. It still wasn't his happiest memories of what his youth had been like.

"Have I made myself clear?" Tsunade asked, turning to the ninjas in front of her.

"Yes Granny Tsunade." Naruto muttered.

"Yes Lady Hokage." Sasuke sighed.

"Yes Lady Tsunade." Sakura said, bowing slightly.

"Good, now get to your positions for the event, we don't have much time." Tsunade said, waving her arm to dismiss them. They turned and left her office, leaving Tsunade free to pull out her eggnog stash and begin drinking. She had to admit, the drink was something she enjoyed more than her sake.

"Lady Tsunade." She frowned as she recognized her assistant's voice call out to her as she managed a sip of the drink. She looked up to see Shizune frowning slightly at her with a "you know you shouldn't be drinking that" look on her face.

"Shouldn't you be with your husband now? "She asked, trying to change the subject as she tried to stash to eggnog away from where Shizune could get her hands on it and confiscate it.

"He's waiting at home, and that isn't the point Lady Tsunade." Shizune said firmly.

"Aww, but it's almost Christmas…can't I have just a few glasses?" she asked, almost pouting.

"Oh... fine, but I don't want to hear about any hangovers in a few days, do you understand me?" Shizune said, adopting a more motherly tone. "Have a Merry Christmas Lady Tsunade!" She said as she headed out of the office, closing the great doors behind her.

Tsunade smiled as she did a little happy dance in her head as she began chugging down the drink happily. In a matter of a few hours of drinking, she'd be doing said happy dance on her desk and not caring who saw.

"I still think this is ridiculous." Naruto muttered as they set up the tree in the middle of the park. It was at least two stories tall.

"Bet it would looks great all set ablaze with some fire." Kyuubi smiled evilly inside Naruto's mind.

"You are not going to touch the tree." Naruto thought back. He sighed, he had learned a technique to let the fox out, but only as a human. Though it infuriated Kyuubi that she couldn't actually do any damage that was at her level, she tolerated being let out.

"I agree completely dobe, but you heard her, we qualify for this… regrettably." Sasuke muttered back, using an ice jutsu to impale the tree's base so it would stand straight.

"It looks great guys!" Sakura said, she had chopped down the tree her teammates were currently attempting to stand up straight.

"I hope so, because I'm not going to position it again!" Naruto said, frowning as he was pelted with Sakura's signature fast ball. Though because it was made of snow, it hurt much less than the baseballs she usually threw his way during training.

"Ohy! No fair, that was a cheap shot!" Naruto said, throwing one back at her. He missed and Sakura stuck her tongue out at him. He liked the little games they played.

"Hey, the kids are arriving." Sasuke said, jerking his thumb towards a small pack of children being guided by an adult Naruto knew to run the orphanage he had lived at. He frowned at the old woman when he saw her. She always saw him as the Kyuubi and was hell-bent on making his life miserable while he lived there. She frowned as she noticed him standing there. Apparently Kyuubi had killed her husband and sons during her attack on the village.

"Alright children, these nice ninja have agreed to put on a show for us, so please enjoy." She said smiling to the children who were staring intently at the massive tree. "I'll introduce them to you." She said, turning to the ninja.

"This is Mr. Sasuke Uchiha, the last and only heir to the Uchiha clan." She said, stepping in front of Sasuke and to his right, pointing to him.

Sasuke felt a strong urge to kick her, he had heard about what she had done to Naruto when he was young, and it irked him quite a bit. He smiled to the children then resumed his usually impassive face.

"This is Ms. Sakura Haruno." She said, pointing to Sakura, who smiled sweetly and waved to the children.

She then skipped over Naruto and resumed standing next to the children. Naruto frowned, even when he had matured and changed so much, she still didn't think any different of him.

"Who is that blonde guy?" One of the children asked, pointing to Naruto curiously. The child had brown hair and blue eyes. It caused Naruto to smile that one of the children had spotted the old woman's mistake in not introducing him.

"Don't worry about him children he's not a real ninja." She said, frowning at the child. This in turn caused Naruto to frown.

"Not a real ninja?" He thought, he was sure that his skills had even reached to the old orphanage.

Sasuke walked up to her and grabbed her arm very hard.

"Let me be clear, either you apologize to my BROTHER NOW, or you WILL lose your job in this village, I will report this incident directly to the hokage." He whispered, giving her a look that would cripple most men. She spat at his feet in response.

"This is our good friend and teammate, Naruto Uzumaki." Sakura said, smiling as she introduced her blonde teammate to the children.

"The demon master?" a small girl asked.

"The demon master?" Naruto hadn't heard that name in a while, it was one that was rarely spoken because most parents didn't want their children calling him demon, for fear of the hokage's wrath.

"I suppose you could call me that yes." Naruto said, smiling warmly at the girl. "You know of my secret friend?" he said, tapping his stomach where the seal was located.

"Yes, Mr. Inuzuka told us when he visited us one day." She said, smiling. Naruto smiled wider, it did sound like something Kiba would say to glorify his friend. "He told us how you fight the fox in your head and kick its sorry butt every time!" She said, kicking her boot covered foot in the air for emphasis.

The old woman frowned, she had told the children not to listen to the dog boy, but his dog often would bar her office door so she couldn't lecture them. She wouldn't punish the children because they were being taught lies.

"Ok, the dog man just moved up a notch on my hit list." Kyuubi said, frowning. He certainly did not "kick her butt" if anything, he should have been kissing it for every time she had to save his sorry ass from dying.

"Well, I'll have to tell Mr. Inuzuka not to tell you my nickname, I can't have you saying, 'Oh! Mr. Demon Master' in public, now can I?" he asked, getting another giggle from the girl.

The old woman frowned, but couldn't do anything at this point. Sasuke had been squeezing her arm harder and harder, unknown to her, with intent to snap the bones.

"Alright, now, we promised to decorate this tree didn't we Sasuke?" Naruto asked his friend, who felt he was close to breaking the woman's frail old bones.

"Fine, let's get this over with." Sasuke said, rolling his eyes as he released the woman's arm reluctantly and headed over to Naruto. The old lady cradled her arm as she let her blood begin flowing back into it.

"Now, there are all kinds of people in this world correct?" Sakura asked the children. They nodded and listened intently. "I know some of you haven't lived the best lives, but these two next to me are prime examples of what you could become!" Sakura said, smiling as she pointed to her two teammates.

"Both of us were orphans." Naruto said, smiling at the kids.

"But we took different paths in our lives and turned out stronger from it." Sasuke said, smirking at them.

"Yeah, Sasuke-teme over here went anti-social and turned traitor for a while." Naruto said, smiling at Sasuke.

"And Naruto-dobe was so oblivious to everything, he couldn't have been sad if he tried." Sasuke said, smirking at Naruto now.

"Sasuke-teme's older brother killed his family, but spared him for Kami only knows what reason." Naruto said, he had been told by Sasuke the whole story behind Itachi's murdering spree and understood it now.

"Naruto here has the legendary Kyuubi no Kitsune stuck inside him." Sasuke said. "But if ya ask me, it's more torture for the demon, being stuck in a guy who diets on nothing but ramen for his whole life." Sasuke chuckled as he finished.

"I agree whole heartedly with him." Kyuubi said smiling. She could only eat anything Naruto had eaten…and after the third week, ramen was a completely boring flavor which she despised with a passion.

"Oh stuff it foxy." Naruto though back.

"I told you not to call me that!" She rage, Naruto tuned her out past that.

The children giggled at this. And one of them actually walked up to Naruto and tugged at his sleeve. The old woman was about to object, but saw Sasuke give her a look that clearly said 'say anything and I'll kick your old ass.'

Naruto bent his legs till he was at the girl's level. It had been the same girl who had spoken about him earlier.

"And what question do you have now? "He asked, flashing her his foxy grin.

"I wanted to know…does the fox…ever get control of you?" she asked, a little worry in her voice.

"No" Naruto said, chuckling. "The stupid fox couldn't get control of me even if it wanted." He said smiling.

"Oh, that's good, because she told us that it could possess you." The girl said, pointing to the old woman. Naruto raised an eyebrow at this.

"What's your name girl?" he asked, nobody had been this foreword with him about Kyuubi since Jiraya had died.

"I'm Kiyoko Kokoro." She said, smiling at Naruto. She wore a bright orange hat and orange gloves. Her jacket was black and her pants were a dark red and looked fringed around the edges.

"Well, Kiyoko Kokoro, its Christmas Eve, and I'd love to talk to you more, but I have a show to put on, so if you'll please stand back a little." Naruto said, gently pushing her to his left a little. "I promise I'll talk much more after this." He declared, smiling.

"Ok!" Kiyoko said, smiling widely as Naruto and Sasuke stood on Sakura's sides. Naruto her right and Sasuke her left.

Sakura smiled at the little girl's kind behavior towards Naruto. She wished she had been that friendly to him at that age. And Kiyoko only appeared to be roughly ten or eleven.

"Anyway, the hokage wanted these two to show you how to decorate a Christmas tree." Sakura said, smiling.

"Ninja style." Naruto said, a little of his old childish nature seeping through. Sasuke just smirked.

"Yes, ninja style." Sakura reiterated, giggling a little. "But these two would've killed each other if I hadn't been there to keep them in line." Sakura said, turning to Sasuke and giving him a light tap on the forehead. He chuckled and removed his jacket and the shirt he had been wearing underneath it. He handed them to Sakura and then went to his second curse mark level, causing the children to "ooooo" and "ahhh" in surprise and admiration. Sasuke smirked and bowed to them, revealing the giant hand-like wings he had.

"This is my curse mark level two." He said.

"Sasuke was bitten by Orochimaru and given this mark which enhanced his chakra, but also makes him more ready to fight and kill." Sakura explained, shivering at the thought of Orochimaru. She was glad that Itachi had "killed" him. "But, he can also fly very high." She added. "Just high enough to wrap all the lights and garland around the tree!" She said, smiling and throwing Sasuke a very long length of Christmas lights and silver garland.

Sasuke grabbed it and placed it at the bottom of the tree and then took off into the air, jettisoning high up and then diving down.

As it looked like he would hit the ground, he straightened out and began to spiral around the tree, the length of lights shrinking with his ascent until he hit the top of the tree. He ran out of lights and simply let the last of them fall into a neat spiral around the top of the tree. He dove down now, spiraling down and allowing the garland to hang onto the tree as he went down, finally running out as he landed, kicking up snow in front of him and landed next to Sakura smiling. "And that, is how you properly apply the lights and garland to a Christmas tree." He said, smirking as he reverted back to his regular form. The children cheered for him as he bowed once again to them. Sakura handed him his shirt and coat, which he put back on silently.

"And Naruto here, as Sasuke mentioned before, has the nine tailed fox inside him." Sakura said, tapping Naruto on the same spot of his forehead as she had Sasuke. Naruto smirked as he grew three chakra tails. His whisker marks grew and his pupils became cat-like slits.

"This is my three tailed stage." Naruto explained, smirking as he noticed the old lady's souring face.

"The tails he has are actually demonic chakra he can control." Sakura explained further. "He can use then like extra hands if he wants to!" She exclaimed, causing the children to giggle and "ooooo" once again.

"And in some cases." Naruto said

"They can help him decorate a Christmas tree with ornaments faster than anyone else in the whole village!" She said, tossing around 300 ornaments to Naruto, who slimmed and lengthened his chakra tails to hold every ornament by their hooks.

Naruto proceeded to jump around the tree, unloading the ornament with care onto the branches of the tree. He filled in the bare spots as best he could. When his first tail ran out of ornaments, he began to use it to apply ornaments along with his own hands to the tree, now adding three ornaments at a time. His second and third tail ran out simultaneously and Naruto smiled at his handy work. The children clapped as he landed, showing that he had distinctly covered the entire giant tree with ornaments. He bowed and resumed his normal state.

"And that, is how you put on the ornaments!" Naruto declared, beaming.

"Now, Both Naruto and Sasuke worked very hard for their powers. I have also trained very diligently, though I don't have quite as much to show for it." Sakura said.

"But I'll be the Kyuubi's slave before I say she doesn't have talent!" Naruto chimed in, smiling as he wrapped his arm around Sakura's back, resting his hand on her shoulder.

"And I'll take up Naruto's diet before I say I haven't learned a few things from her." Sasuke said, mimicking Naruto's motion and encompassing Sakura's shoulder with his arm.

"She's got something we don't" They both said, smirking in their unique ways. "She's got super strength!" They said, smirking as they quickly released her and ran around to the other side of the tree. They came back with a star decked with light that was at least twice as tall as they were.

"Which means" Naruto started.

"That's she's the only one here who can put this star on top of the tree." Sasuke finished smirking. Naruto and Sasuke tossed the star into the air, causing the children to recoil slightly as the massive star headed towards them.

"My turn to show them what I've learned!" Sakura thought as she stood in front of the children, directly in the star's line of descent. "Now!" She thought as she launched one of her punches at the massive star, launching it to the top of the tree, where it landed perfectly.

"Like we said." Naruto began again.

"Super strength." Sasuke finished, almost like they'd rehearsed it. Sakura blushed slightly at the praise and darted to the top of the tree, plugging in the star to the same line as the lights.

"And now, Sasuke and Naruto will once again demonstrate what they've learned." Sakura said, smiling."Naruto please show them your favorite technique." Sakura asked, smiling to her blonde teammate again.

"If I did that, you might kill me Sakura, so I'll use my second favorite technique." Naruto thought, smiling as he concentrated his chakra on his right hand. The chakra began to swirl in every-which-way. Soon it formed a perfect sphere, with a core of chakra that was spinning all around, contained in the sphere. The snowflakes that came near the sphere became ensnared within its spinning confines, swirling inside. Causing it to soon become a large white mass of spinning snow in Naruto's hand as he expanded the orb.

"This is my technique the Great Rasengan." Naruto said, smiling. The rasengan now the size of a large beach ball. "I didn't really invent it, but I learned it from the great Toad Sage Jiraya." He explained further. He was tempted to say Pervy Sage, but figured it was best for him to use a respectful title since Jiraya had been dead for six years now. He didn't need the kids to know Jiraya was lecherous and a pervert, when he himself hadn't been much better.

"As you noticed, Naruto is catching the snow in his Rasengan." Sakura said, pointing out that the snow was continuing to build up inside and swirl inside the orb. "Naruto has a special treat planned for you." Sakura smiled as she said it.

"Can I jump now or what Sakura?" Naruto asked.

"Go ahead baka." She responded, smiling at this as he grinned back.

Naruto jumped up and shimmied up the nearby trees, causing himself to be directly above the titanic tree he and Sasuke had previously decorated. He suddenly increased the channeling into his rasengan, causing it to form a shuriken like design.

"Great Rasenshuriken!" He shouted, allowing the wind he had put into the orb to force out the snow in a great descending spiral. The snow landed on the tree, lightly decorating it as though it had been up and snowed on for hours rather than minutes. The snow also added a hint of extra glitter to the garland.

Naruto landed where he had jumped from and smirked much like Sasuke. That had been one of his original techniques. Though he had never originally intended it to be used to decorate a Christmas tree.

"And that is how we add snow to the tree!" He proclaimed, bowing as the children applauded his performance. Sakura giggled and moved over to Sasuke.

"Sasuke if you will please demonstrate the technique Kakashi taught you." She said, once again smiling to Sasuke, who smirked and made three hand signs after activating his sharingan. When he finished the hand signs, he crouched slightly and stuck his right arm down pointing towards the snow.

"Chidori!" he shouted, the lightning appearing in his right hand. A chirping sound now filled the air as he stood tall again, holding the lightning in his hand.

"This is one of Sasuke's best techniques, taught to him by our sensei, Kakashi Hatake." Sakura explained to the children.

"I can hear birds!" One boy shouted from the crowd of children.

"That's because this technique is also known as 1000 chirping birds because of the sound you can hear." Sakura continued to explain.

"Sakura, can we hurry please? You know I can't hold this jutsu forever." Sasuke interrupted, he liked using his chidori, but he couldn't hold it as long as he would like. He had used less chakra in this one though, if he had used it at its normal power, he wouldn't be able to do what he knew Sakura was going to ask him.

"Right you are Sasuke!" Sakura said, turning to him and pulling a long cord from behind the tree. "This is the cord that powers all of the lights on the tree!" Sakura said, handing it to Sasuke, who grabbed it with his left hand. "The Chidori can also produce massive amounts of electricity, as Sasuke will now demonstrate." Sakura said.

Sasuke placed the plug close to his right hand, the electricity arched from his hand to the plug, causing every light on the tree to become illuminated.

The children clapped and screamed their pleasure as the light began to glow all reds and greens, blues and white even on them. The garland caught the light and reflected it warmly. The snow began to match the colors of the lights nearby it, giving and illusion of a rainbow snow covered tree. The star shone majestically on top of the tree. This combined with the currently falling snow, gave a wonderful sight to behold.

Naruto smirked as his clones did their jobs, silently moving behind the tree and placing presents under it like the ninja they were.

Sasuke moved his hands apart as he began to feel himself tire from maintaining a chidori for so long.

"Lady Tsunade thought that this would be a great present for you all, and a lesson too." Sakura began.

"Even if you have a crappy childhood." Sasuke resumed.

"You can end up having a wonderful life!" Naruto finished, giving everyone his foxy grin.

"Presents!" one of the other children shouted, pointing to the brightly colored boxes under the tree.

"Oh… It looks like Santa has managed to give us an extra gift." Sakura said, smiling. "How did those get there?" She thought silently.

Sasuke turned and raised an eyebrow at the multitude of colorful presents that had appeared.

"It can't have been Santa! You're ninja, you would have caught him!" A boy shouted.

"Now, I don't know about that." Sasuke said, smirking again. "I've never caught him in my whole life, and to this day, nobody has." He said, "maybe he's just the greatest ninja of us all." He finished patting the boy on the head.

This caused Sakura to giggle and Naruto to chuckle.

Santa Clause a ninja? Though it made sense, it was a long shot. Nobody could have gotten into Kakashi's house with him knowing, he had elaborate traps set up in such a way that nobody, not even himself, could get in without either setting them off, or using an extremely powerful jutsu to destroy the traps. This would awaken him or leave a lot of damage to the house. Naruto would have his clones simply knock on Kakashi's door and wait for him to answer before dropping off their present. But every year, Kakashi would always bring in a little tag that read

"From: Santa

To: Kakashi Hatake"

And demand who had gotten into his house and how they did it without damaging his house, and the gift in question.

Naruto smiled as he saw Sakura's all knowing composure fade slightly. He had conveniently forgotten to tell them that he had gotten enough gifts for all the children and had planned to put them under the tree. The children had ran off to get the presents, not noticing the slight puff of smoke the rose from the trees in the forest behind them that was Naruto's clones vanishing.

After much cleaning up and Sasuke dragging an old power generator to the tree's location to keep it lit, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto said their goodbyes to the children. Naruto smiled as he watched them walk back to the old woman, who was staring at a sapphire teardrop necklace she had gotten from "Santa", who had also left a note behind.

"Dear Kotra,

This is a time for kindness, remember that next time you see the Mr. Uzumaki. He forgave you and you might want to return the favor.

Yours Sincerely,

Santa Clause."

"Well, Sakura and I have to get going." Sasuke said to Naruto, wrapping his right arm around Sakura, who blushed at his show of affection. "You have a merry Christmas Dobe." He said, throwing a small present wrapped in dark blue at Naruto like a kunai.

Naruto caught it and looked at it surprised. Had Sasuke actually gotten him a gift?

"Don't forget this!" Sakura said, gently tossing him a box wrapped in pink. Naruto caught this one as well, smiling now. She and Sasuke turned and began to walk away from the stunned Naruto.

"Thanks you guys!" he shouted at the retreating pair. He smiled at the wrapped gifts in his hands. He had used his money from missions to pay for their gifts, which his clones had dropped off while they were walking to the Hokage's house, along with the gifts for his other friends. Being assigned S and A rank mission so often had given him a decent fortune to spend, not to mention the money Jiraya had left his after his death, which Tsunade had given him to majority of at his birthday this year so he could "mature" before he would use it on something foolish. Like buying Ichiraku Ramen and funding it nonstop in return for all the ramen he could eat. Which he had almost done anyway. He had decided to just pay them foreword for around fifty million ryu worth of ramen. Causing the Ramen owner to hug him breathless, and Ayame to hug him to the ground where she kissed him many times in thanks after her father had released Naruto from his vice-like hug. He had blushed a very bright red for the rest of that day, and was glad for the infinite supply of ramen he now had. He had also learned of his heritage and been given the small fortune and mansion his parents had left him.

Naruto chuckled as he walked back towards his home. When he had inherited the mansion two years ago, he had had no idea what to do with it. He had to have Shizune come and teach him to clean the massive house. This took several hours considering that the basement was also quite large. But Naruto had learned how to clean the place in a matter of hours thanks to his clones. The house was painted a dark red color. On the exterior and had seemed like it hadn't been touched for years when Naruto arrived at it for the first time.

What got him most were the tags that were attached to the cards that he had gotten. The one from Sasuke read.

"Dobe,

Merry Christmas, I figure I owe you this for saving my ass.

Sasuke"

This caused Naruto to laugh even harder as he went to read the one from Sakura.

"Naruto

I'm sorry I took so long to get you a gift. I hope you like it!

Sakura"

He smiled as he finished it.

"So she did remember after all." He thought as he turned a corner. He heard a twig snap behind him, causing him to tense as he put the presents into his jacket pockets, zipping them shut.

"Who's there?" He asked, turning quickly.

To his surprise, he saw Kiyoko standing there, smiling at him.

"Hiya Naruto!" she said, walking up to him, he crouched down, allowing her to give him a hug and hugging her back.

"Kiyoko, why aren't you with the rest of the orphans headed back to the orphanage?" He asked, surprised to see her, and growing more suspicious by the moment

"Because I don't live at the orphanage, the old lady doesn't let me sleep there." She answered, stepping back and looking at him with a sad face.

"What? And why is that? "He asked, now really suspicious.

"Well… I'm like you." She said, backing away from him a little and fidgeting with her gloved fingers.

"How so? I know there isn't another Kyuubi out there. So you can't have it sealed inside you." He said. He knew she couldn't be a demon holder.

Kyuubi, who had been lying down, raised her head up and began to sniff the air.

"…no…it can't be." She thought, looking at the child.

"I…I'm… I'm half fox!" She shouted at Naruto. She pulled off her hat and fox ears became visible under her brown hair. They were brown like her natural hair, and had little red tufts of fur at the end. She put her hand behind her back and slightly pulled down the back of her pants, allowing 2 fox tails to flow behind her. They were just like her hair, brown with red tips.

"Nobody accepts me!" She cried, tears now rolling down her face. "Because…I'm like this!" She ran back to Naruto and began to cry onto his shoulder.

"How in the world…what happened to you?" Naruto asked the crying girl, who continue to cry into his shoulder, her fox ears rubbing onto his own human ones.

"I can answer that kit." Kyuubi said, standing up now in her cell. Naruto entered his mindscape and stood directly facing her through the cell doors.

"I'm listening, explain it to me." Naruto said, partially enraged that someone would do this to a child.

"Nobody did that to her…she was born that way you nimrod!" Kyuubi shouted, her demeanor of superiority gone for now. "She was born like that...ears and all." She said, looking him directly in the eye.

"How, that doesn't make sense. Someone would have had to mate with a fox!" he said, still angry.

"Someone did you moron." Kyuubi said, Naruto noticed tears slowly flowing from her eyes.

"Kyuubi…what's wrong?" Naruto asked, he reached his hand through the bars and stroked her cheek gently. Kyuubi bit his hand hard before releasing it as he cried out in pain. "What the hell was that for?" he asked, now twice as angry.

"Kit, Kitsune…sometimes we…" She was barely able to talk now. She inhaled deeply and glared at him. "Ok kit, time for a little history lesson." She stated, her air of superiority. "Sometimes Kitsune take on the form of human females and wed humans. We either turn on our mates or we stay loyal to them…much like your human wives do."

Naruto raised his eyebrows at this. So, the foxes could disguise as humans, that would explain why Kyuubi had a female human form, she must have used it before. Naruto's eyes widened immediately with understanding.

"Kyuubi, is that your daughter out there?" He asked, his voice half sad and half sympathetic.

"No." She said, frowning. "Nobody knows this, but I was originally summoned into this world by Madara Uchiha to help him gain power. But after that, he let me roam as I wished." She paused for a moment before continuing. "I was married to a human once…he was a wonderful man. Strong, kind, wise, and he was so good with his hands." Kyuubi said, tears flowing down her face as she told him the story. "He was a potter, and he made pieces fit for royalty and gods." She recalled, smiling as she remembered her life with her husband. "He was so passionate about his work, and his love life. I was so enthralled with his works and his kindness, that I decided that I would have him as my husband. Demon husbands are boring to me, they were scared of me you know. But he… even after we were wed and I told him what I was, he stayed with me. You could be related to him you know, he looked a bit like you, but he had nice brown hair and not that obnoxious yellow you and your father have." She said, some of her snide demeanor coming back.

"Can you get to the point?" Naruto asked. As fascinating as he found the fact that Kyuubi could be loving and caring, let alone had a husband at one time was, there were more pressing matters at hand. Mainly the half demon child he had crying onto his shoulder.

"He and I…we had a small child, a girl." Kyuubi said, sadness leaking into her voice again. "And… then HE came." She said, malice filling her voice

"Who came?" Naruto asked, having a feeling he knew of one person who could royally piss of a demon besides himself.

"That damned Orochimaru came to our village and was taking people as sacrifices for his jutsus." She said, spitting onto the floor as she said Orochimaru's name. "He…he took them both while I was out getting food for my family. The bastard left a note attached to my door telling me how thankful the leaf village was for my sacrifices." She said, tears flowing again. "He took them…my husband and daughter…We hadn't even named her yet!" She cried out. "You know the rest of the story." Naruto felt a massive killer intent shoot outwards from Kyuubi then fade immediately. "You have no idea how happy I was when that Uchiha told me he was gone." She said, malice and anger in her voice. A manic smile came across her face. "He got what he deserved, to be stuck in and eternal dream while reality went on, and he learned nothing else." She looked at Naruto with her eyes gleaning.

"So, how do we know this isn't your daughter?" Naruto asked.

"You know what happened to people he took, they don't come back." Kyuubi said, her eyes downcast. "She must be another kitsune's child looking for someone who will accept her. And she probably heard that you had me sealed inside you and thought you would keep her safe."

"Ok, thanks for the explanation Kyuubi" Naruto said, turning to leave his mindscape. "And Kyuubi…I'm sorry about what happened to your family." Naruto said before he left.

"Don't think that I'll be nice to you because I told you about my past." She said, smirking as he left.

Naruto returned to reality, where it had only been moments from when he had left to talk to Kyuubi. Kiyoko was still crying into his shoulder, but more sobbing than crying now.

"Kiyoko…Kyuubi explained to me what happened…and how you're like this." Naruto said, slightly pushing her off him so he could look her in the eye. Her eyes still had fresh tear streaks coming from them. He had his hands on her shoulders. Her tails occasionally stroked his hands. "I'll give you a place to live, I promise you. And I never break my word."

"K-Kyuubi?" Kiyoko said, sounding happy again. She ran up to Naruto and hugged him again. "I was right! You do have mommy!" She cried out, hugging him tighter now.

"No…Kyuubi said her child and husband were taken by Orochimaru. You must be mistaken." Naruto said, again putting his hand on her shoulders and pushing her back slightly.

"Nuh-uhhhh!" she said, looking annoyed. "Daddy told me if I found his Kyuu-hime I should make sure she knew I was her daughter!" She said. Kyuubi's ears shot up at the sound of her husband's pet name for her.

"Kit…do it now." She said, her sentence was more of a command than a request. Naruto sighed and stood up.

"Can you wait a second, Kyuubi wants me to let her out." Naruto said, rolling his eyes and making multiple hand signs at a very fast rate. He stopped at the dragon sign. "Demonic Incarnation Clone jutsu." He said, quietly. A puff of smoke appeared next to him. When it faded, Kyuubi stood there next to him. In the same outfit he was wearing, except with a hole in the back for her tails to wave freely. She bent down at the little girl, who ran up to her and tried to hug her. Kyuubi stuck her arm out to stop her.

"If you are who you claim to be, and if you are lying, child I will end you!" Kyuubi said, something Naruto didn't recognize in her eyes. "If you are my child, how did your father get you out of the foul man's base?" She asked. Kyoko smiled in response.

"Daddy said you might ask that. He said he used his quick intellect and did the most…logical thing he could think of!" She said, smiling. She had almost for gotten that L word her father had told her to use.

"Scream for help." Kyuubi and Kiyoko said simultaneously. Kyuubi fell to her knees and hugged Kiyoko.

"Daddy said he shouted a lot while he was protecting me and some ninja came and saved us from the Orochimaru guy..." She said, seeming proud of herself for remembering everything her father had told her to say.

"He named you Kiyoko…Pure child." Kyuubi said, sobbing. "Oh he was always good with his words." She sobbed, smiling.

"Don't cry mommy! I found you!" Kiyoko said, smiling and hugging Kyuubi back.

"Where is your father?" Kyuubi asked, her eyes darting as though she expected him to come out of a dark corner.

"Daddy… he got really sick and told me to go find you." Kiyoko said, her face slightly falling. "He told me to say he was sorry that he couldn't come see you, but we had been taken a long ways way from home and he couldn't walk all the way here." She said "I'm…just glad I got to see you mommy!" Kiyoko ran to Kyuubi and hugged her, her tails wrapping around Kyuubi in a hug. Kyuubi smiled and wrapped her tails around her daughter in a hug.

"I hate to interrupt this happy moment." Naruto said, earning a glare from the Kyuubi. "But if what she says is true. She would be my around my age. How can she look like that and be my age?" Naruto asked, slightly confused.

"You idiot, do you know how old am I?" Kyuubi asked, standing up with Kiyoko in her arms.

"No, I asked you once and you slapped me across my mind with your tail." Naruto said, rubbing his side as he remembered how much it hurt to be slammed into his own mental wall.

"Exactly, I'm well beyond how old I appear to be. Kitsune age slower than humans. Even a half kitsune, especially the off springs of a nine tails such as myself." She said, her air of superiority now back with a vengeance. "She seems to age around half the rate you do. So she IS your age, but she isn't that developed in her mind or body."

"Thanks for the explanation." Naruto said, his demeanor also growing snide. "I do have a house to get to, so may I please get there?" he asked Kyuubi, who frowned.

"Geez, you're worse than me, not letting a mother and her daughter have a few happy minutes to catch up." Kyuubi said, smirking at him. "I almost feel proud." She chuckled at this.

"Yes well, your time is up right about…" Naruto began as Kyuubi flashed out of existence with a look of rage on her face when he began his sentence. "Now." He smirked. Kiyoko looked confusedly art the spot where Kyuubi had just been.

"Where did mommy go?" She asked, confusedly.

"She had to go back into me head." Naruto said happily. Poking his head, causing it's inhabitant to curse at him.

"I HATE YOU! YOU DAMN HUMAN!" Kyuubi was shouting at him.

"Oh be quiet up there, or I'll gag you with your own tails." He said, giving her a reason to laugh.

"You think you could gag me with my tails kit? Oh, you're a regular comedian!" she burst into raucous laughter and was soon rolling on the floor laughing. Naruto smirked at how easily he could get her to laugh, it was one of his more… unique skills.

"Can I see mommy later daddy?" Kiyoko asked, making Kyuubi stop laughing and Naruto raise an eyebrow.

"Daddy? I'm sorry, but I'm not your father, even if I do have your mother in me, I assure you, she and I have nothing going together." Naruto said, half choking on his own laugh and half dying of shock.

"Well, You said you've let me live with you! And my daddy told me to call whoever has mommy my new daddy!" She said, this making perfect sense only to her.

"I will never call you my husband. Not even an army of sharingan users could persuade me with their most powerful combined genjutsus to make me call you that." Kyuubi said, causing Naruto to chuckle.

"Aww and I thought I could call you my precious Kyuu-hime from now on." Naruto thought back, pouting and bursting into laughter as Kyuubi's face turned form one of shock to one of pure rage.

"YOU WILL DIE BEFORE I RESPOND TO YOU CALLING ME THAT!" She shouted at him, showing her clear disdain for being called that. "ONLY MY HUSBAND MAY CALL ME THAT! AND YOU ARE NOT, AND NEVER WILL BE HIM!" her rage evident.

"I was kidding stupid fox, relax." Nature said, smiling and turning his attention back to the little girl in front of him.

"Well Kiyoko, we better get back to my house, or we'll both freeze. " Naruto said, picking her up and hiking her onto his back, holding his hands behind his back, supporting her legs as she wrapped them around his back.

"Yeah daddy! We can go home now!" she said enthusiastically. Kyuubi twitched at her calling Naruto daddy again.

"To home!" She said, propping her head on his shoulder and pointing directly in front of them.

"If we go that way, we'll end up at the gates of the village Kiyoko." Naruto said, chuckling.

"Well then where's home?" She said, frowning.

"This way." Naruto said, turning ninety degrees to his left, causing Kiyoko to yelp, much like a fox, in surprise at his swift motion.

"To home!" She shouted again, giggling as she pointed the correct way now.

"As you say Kiyoko!" Naruto shouted, jumping to the tops of the buildings and propelling himself forward, holding tightly to Kiyoko's legs to ensure she wouldn't fall off of him. Kiyoko had her arms wrapped around him just below his neck.

"Hey Kiyoko." Naruto said, remembering something she said that didn't make sense to him.

"Yes Daddy? "She responded, her hair flowing behind them wildly in the wind.

"You said that the old lady didn't let you stay in the orphanage…so how did you know about Kiba visiting them and telling them?" he asked, this thought bothering him now,

"That's easy, I snuck around and listened at the windows. I'm part fox remember?" she asked, poking her ears and grinning a grin much like Naruto's.

"Spoken like a true Kitsune." Kyuubi replied, smiling at her daughter's wittiness.

"Ahh, thanks for explaining that." Naruto responded, now continuing his high speed journey home.

They arrived at Naruto's house shortly after their little chat. Naruto wasn't as fast as Lee, but he wasn't called the Second Yellow Flash of Konoha for nothing. He had learned a few tricks from a few of the scrolls he had found in the basement on how to enhance his speed to the same as his father's.

"Wow…you have a big house daddy." Kiyoko said, her mouth slightly agape at the sight of her new home.

"Yeah, I know." Naruto said, smiling as he let her down from his back. His house was only two stories high, which was nothing when compared to the Hokage's mansion.

"Do you live here all by yourself?" She asked.

"Yeah." Naruto responded, frowning as he walked to the twin doors and opened them with a slight push from his arms. Kiyoko gasped at the sight of the entryway.

Naruto had of course painted it orange to fit his favorite color scheme. But it was a warm orange with reds mixed into it. The entrance way lead straight to the living room, which was slightly to the left of it. There was a set of spiral stairs just before the entrance to the living room. Kiyoko ran to the couch across the wooden floor and began to bounce on it happily, enjoying how soft the red pillows were.

"Your house rocks daddy!" She proclaimed, cuddling into the couch and immediately falling asleep. Her head propped onto three of the pillows he had.

Naruto smiled at her sleeping form and went to his closet. He took off his jacket and hung it up neatly. He then slid off his shirt leaving him in only his pants as he pulled out a blue blanket which he draped over Kiyoko's body. He smiled as she slept, looking very content, her tails resting on the couch and her ears occasionally twitching as she slept.

"Heh, at least she goes down fast. "Naruto thought, smiling. "Much unlike her mother." He shot at Kyuubi, who would nag him nonstop and never seemed to sleep when he did.

"Don't push your luck kit, remember, one slip of my tongue and the whole village can know your deepest secrets." She said, smirking.

"Yeah, you're presuming I'm going to let you out again." Naruto retorted.

"You would keep a mother from her thought dead daughter?" Kyuubi asked, feigning being hurt. "How cruel of you Naruto." She said, mockingly.

"Keep it up and I might just give you a little torture. Perhaps you'd like to find out what horrible torment I could put you through?" He responded, smiling. "Maybe nothing but ramen for three weeks?" he said.

"You wouldn't dare!" she scoffed at him. "No man would harm a woman in such a way!" she proclaimed in all seriousness.

"Do I detect some worry?" He asked, smiling."You've been acting stranger than usual since we found your daughter." He commented.

"I am allowed to be happy you idiot. Oh and you are about to have a guest." She said, smirking as Naruto heard a knock at his door. "Do be more polite with them than you have been with me you dumb human." Kyuubi finished, smirking as she laid her head down to rest in his mindscape.

"Who could that be now?" Naruto thought as he looked at his clock, which read ten o'clock. He shrugged the thought off and proceeded to his door, and he stared through the peephole he had put in. He had decided back then that he'd rather like to know who was knocking in case it was some drunk who had gotten particularly brave.

Much to his surprise, he found Hinata standing at his doorway. He was shocked to say the least, but pleasantly surprised.

Hinata was one of the people who knew about Kyuubi and didn't hate him for it. She actually didn't even seem to acknowledge it at all. She had grown the most out of the kunoichi he had known. She was no longer as shy as she used to be. She had even been able have conversation with him and have an occasional bowl of ramen with him.

She would often train with him, she had proven to be a worthy adversary much of the time when Naruto didn't have to tap Kyuubi past the second level. He hadn't also failed to notice that, as Jiraya would have put it, her "feminine fruits had ripened beautifully". She wore a lavender jacket with matching earmuffs. Her pants were a darker shade of purple.

"Hiya Hinata, to what do I owe the honor of receiving a visit from the head of the hyuuga clan?" he said, bowing.

Hinata's eyes widened at the sight of Naruto shirtless.

"N-Naruto… may I come in?" She asked, stepping closer to the doorway. She couldn't help scanning his sculpted body with her pupiless eyes.

"Of course you can Hinata, would you like me to take your coat?" he offered, holding out his arm to receive her lavender coat.

Hinata giggled and slid her coat off, revealing that she was wearing a red, green, and white striped sweater underneath that jacket.

"If you must kind sir." She said, giggling as her calm demeanor returning slowly as Naruto exaggeratedly took her coat from her hand with a flourish and proceeded to hang it with the utmost care next to his.

"Daddy, who's here?" Kiyoko had apparently awakened and noticed Hinata standing next to Naruto. She dropped the blanket off of her and stood next to Naruto, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and yawning.

Hinata's eyes widened with a large amount of shock in them. She had called him daddy, but it didn't make any sense, Naruto couldn't be her father, he was her age and would have had to be at least eleven when he had sex with a woman. She knew Naruto at that age had no idea of sex and definitely would not have done that with anyone. She had watched him fall asleep during that particular lecture two years after the date in question. The girl's tails and fox ears hadn't escaped her notice. Another detail that caught her eyes was the fact that the child had not only normal chakra, which she could sense by nature now, but also a chakra that was almost like that of Naruto's when he used the Kyuubi's powers.

Naruto winced as he looked at Hinata's hurt face. "I'll explain in a minute Hinata, I swear it isn't what you think." He said, grasping her hand reassuringly. She took this as a sign of his seriousness and nodded her head.

"Demon Incarnation Clone jutsu." Naruto made than hand signs and Kyuubi appeared next to him, fast asleep in her kimono. Naruto remembered what had happened the last time he had tried to wake up Kyuubi from her sleep, which had resulted in him breaking an arm from her, as she put it, "knee jerk reaction" to anyone touching her in her sleep.

This reaction consisted of grabbing the nearest limb of the person who touched her and consequently squeezing it as hard as she could with her tails. She had refused to heal the wound, saying that Naruto should learn not to disturb a lady during her sleep. "Kiyoko, why don't you wake up your mother?" he offered, figuring that Kyuubi could tell the difference between a full grown man trying to wake her up and a small child.

"Ok!" She said enthusiastically running to her sleeping mothers figure and promptly jumping onto it, causing Kyuubi to jump up with a start and smile at her daughter.

"It's very rude to wake someone up during a nap sweetie." She said, sweetly as she hugged her daughter. "Now, did daddy do something wrong already?" She asked, throwing Naruto a glare.

"No, he wanted to talk to you I guess." She said, smiling widely.

"And what does daddy want to talk to mommy about so badly?" Kyuubi asked, flipping over and facing Naruto.

"Daddy" He said, showing disdain in being called that by Kyuubi. "wants you to spend time with your daughter tonight upstairs." He said, emphasizing the word upstairs. "And don't try and leave, if you try to get outside this house, you'll go back here." He said, tapping his head.

"Oh fine, if I must." She said, standing up and grabbing Kiyoko's hand. "Comon sweetie, daddy and the hyuuga are going to take about adult things." She said, walking her daughter up the spiral steps to the second floor.

Naruto sighed and turned to Hinata, whose face was now crinkled in confusion.

"This might take a while Hinata, you might want to take a seat." Naruto said, offering her a seat on the couch. Hinata took her seat and sat patiently. "Would you like me to make some tea while I explain everything?" Naruto offered, wanting to make her as comfortable as possible in case she fainted. He wanted her to at least feel welcome in his house with the odd circumstances.

"Yes, tea sounds good to me Naruto." She said, adjusting herself in the seat to a more comfortable position.

It was eleven o'clock by the time Naruto had explained everything, including how he had learned to give Kyuubi a body and allow her to roam freely. During his explanation of how Kyuubi and Kiyoko's father had met and been parted, Hinata had asked to excuse herself so she could cry. Naruto had told her to cry there if she wanted, and that he would not mind. She had cried briefly and then resumed listening to Naruto's explanation with rapt attention.

"Do you understand it all Hinata?" he asked hesitantly. She had been very silent, which had him feeling a little nervous.

Kyuubi had put Kiyoko to sleep and was now sitting at the top of the spiral staircase, eavesdropping. She found the fact that the hyuuga girl had come to Naruto's house of all places on Christmas odd. Nobody came unless they were drunk, and she couldn't smell any alcohol on her.

"Yes…that's a lot to happen in one day, isn't it?" Hinata asked, giggling slightly in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, it's definitely a lot to have happen in one day. " Naruto said, chuckling slightly. "But, I'm being a rude host, why did you come here Hinata?"

"I umm… I gave Neji his Christmas gift early." Hinata said, frowning.

"And how does that lead to you coming to my house?" Naruto asked, confused. He knew Neji had grown quite powerful, and would often try and have Naruto go into his third tail form to spar. But he had always kept him on par with Hinata in strength terms. They may fight differently, but they both weren't ready for his third level. And how giving someone an early Christmas gift could possibly relate to her coming to his house made no sense.

"Well, I made him head of the hyuuga clan." She said, smiling faintly. Naruto's eyes widened at this, the hyuuga clan had prospered since she had been given control. The main and branch houses had certainly gotten along better at the least, which was quite an accomplishment.

"That's quite a bold move, but I'm afraid I still don't understand why you have to be her-" Hinata raised her hands up to her bangs and parted them, revealing a symbol Naruto knew too well.

"I had to be branded with the Caged Bird seal for the council to agree." She began crying. "My father…he yelled at me and told me not to go through with it. He didn't want me to have the seal. But I knew it was the only way the council would remove Neji's seal."

Naruto was not surprised by this. Haishi and Hinata had been rumored to be trying to abolish the use of the cage bird seal together. He had told both of them that he would back them on it one hundred percent if they needed help.

"I…I told him it was for the clan…and that it was the only way, he tried to find other ways, but this was the only one. Neji and my father had to be held down during the transfer of the seal or they would not have let it happen." She was crying very hard now. Her tears falling onto her sweater. "I…I left, I figured neither of them would want to s-see me after that." She said, before crying so hard she couldn't speak.

Naruto sat closer to her, hugging her and allowing her to cry onto his bare shoulder. She had given up her freedom for her family. He hadn't known that they could transfer the cage bird seal between people though and assumed it to be one of the Hyuuga's better kept secrets.

"Hinata…it'll be alright. They won't hate you for this. Don't worry." Naruto said, patting her back as she cried onto him. "Neji isn't like that, if anything, he'll look for a way to remove the seal from you. And your father will probably be helping him." Hinata looked up and him, tears still on her face.

"But…what if they-" Naruto cut her off by pressing his finger to her lips.

"They'll be there for you Hinata, they both love you." He said, warmly smiling at her. "And if they won't, I will. Believe it." He said, using his old catch phrase for the first time in years. Hinata locked eyes with him, his red ones showing her burning passion for his friends. To Naruto, Hinata pale lavender eyes told how much she was concerned.

"Naruto…"Hinata blushed and began to hug him back.

Kyuubi had heard enough and began down the stairs, her bare feet making no noise as it touched them.

"Kit, if you're gonna being using that ridiculous phrase again, I'm going to start walking around naked in your head." She said as she proceeded down the steps.

"Kyuubi, this isn't really the best time." Naruto said, frowning at the demoness.

"Oh, I don't know about that, you have a crying girl in your arms." She said, reaching the bottom of the steps and proceeding towards them."And I know you know how to make the cage bird seal activate, despite you aren't part of the Hyuuga clan." She said, smiling at the shocked look on Hinata's face.

Naruto frowned as well. It was true that he understood how to use the cage bird seal. His father had documented four scrolls strictly on how it was created and functioned. But at the end of one of them was a way to nullify the effect if you were within close proximity to the sealed person.

"And I also know how to nullify the effect, or did you conveniently forget that?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.

"I didn't forget kit, but you could have made her do anything you want." Kyuubi answered, reaching them and sitting across from them on the couch, smirking. "And I don't think I could stand having you take advantage of a poor innocent girl." She said. Naruto couldn't tell if there was more vindictiveness or amusement in her voice.

"Naruto would never take advantage of me!" Hinata shouted at Kyuubi, who seemed to find this little display of outrage amusing.

"Oh really, are you saying that because you believe that, or because you wouldn't mind if he did?" Kyuubi asked, smirking. Kyuubi had always been able to smell the Hyuuga girl's pheromones quite strongly whenever she got near Naruto when she was younger. Kyuubi had a small nagging feeling that this childhood crush hadn't changed much.

"Kyuubi, stop this." Naruto said, standing up surprising both the females in the room.

"Naruto…" Hinata looked at him, his face rigid with anger and his eyes locked with Kyuubi's. His eyes had become slitted and showed anger in them. The opposite of Kyuubi's, which held amusement in them.

"Don't challenge me kit, you know you can't defeat me." She said, laughing slightly. "I know why that girl really came here kit. She wanted to spend Christmas with someone she loves." Kyuubi said.

Hinata's eyes widened, she hadn't planned on telling Naruto that she loved him.

"Is this true Hinata?" Naruto asked, turning his head towards her, his eyes kind now. "I know we are friends and that you like me, but do you love me?" He asked, a hint of hope in his voice.

"Go on girl, tell him, or I will." Kyuubi threatened, smirking.

"Yes Naruto…I love you." Hinata said, her voice shaking at first, but it became more resolute. "I've been in love with you since our academy days." She said, glaring at Kyuubi and then looking back to Naruto. "I've been too afraid to say anything…because I was afraid…that you might hate me and reject me" She stopped there unable to bring herself to say any more. She began to cry again, her sobs more prominent than ever.

"Because you were afraid I'd hate you?" Naruto asked, walking over to her and sitting next to her, their eyes locked.

"Hinata, I would never hate you." Naruto said, his red orbs gazing into her pale lavender ones. "You are one of my closest friends, and I would never hate you because you care about me so much." Naruto grasped her hand in his, causing Hinata to blush.

"I could never hate you…not for a second. I can't say I love you, but I do really really like you. Who knows, it might turn into love with enough time" He finished, smiling down at her, their eyes locked again. Hinata was beaming. Her fears now completely gone. Kyuubi smirked as she saw the hyuuga girl jump towards Naruto and pull him into a hug.

"Naruto! I've wanted to tell you for so long!" She held him tighter when he began to hug her back. "I'm so glad you don't-" Naruto silenced her by pressing his lips to hers. She closed her eyes and melted into the kiss, feeling bliss over take her.

Naruto smiled as he kissed Hinata. It was nice to know that someone actually had feelings for him. He felt his stomach curl when he saw a hint of the green symbol on her forehead. He was angry that he couldn't remove it. He had already bought her a golden bracelet for Christmas, but he now wanted to get rid of the seal.

"Break it up you two, I don't need to see this you know." Kyuubi said, stepping between the two of them and using her hands to part them. She had alot more strength than it looked like she had. Her slender arms packed more of a punch than even Tsunade could generate.

"You're starting to piss me off Kyuubi. "Naruto said threateningly.

"And why should I care?" She asked, smirking as she turned to face Hinata. "You are one very lucky girl." She said, smirking at the look of fear and indignation on Hinata's face, much like the one Naruto used to wear when he talked to her.

"And wh-why is that?" She asked. She knew what Kyuubi could do, living in the village that the fox had almost destroyed hadn't helped much. Having it, or her as she now knew, in such close proximity was unnerving.

"Because I think you'd make a fine wife for my kit over there." She said, smirking as she stroked Hinata's bangs to the side.

"Th-thank you. "Hinata said, flustered at the demoness complimenting her.

"So I'm going to do something you'll both appreciate." She said, placing her forefinger onto the center of the caged bird seal.

"Get your hands off her." Naruto said, putting his hand onto Kyuubi's shoulder. He would not have the Kyuubi hurting Hinata. He did not trust her enough.

"Kit, I'm going to remove her seal, relax." Kyuubi said, shrugging off his hand.

"And how are you going to do that?" He asked, his eyes on the back of her head. She smiled as she could feel his killer intent directed at her.

"Don't you know anything about demons kit? We have been destroying seals for years by just putting our chakra into them. The only seals we can't always do are holy seals, and this one is certainly not holy. " She said, rolling her eyes. "We just usually choose to destroy the object in question, but you wouldn't let me out to see the light of day if I hurt your precious girlfriend." She smirked. "Or perhaps you don't want to me remove it? "She turned her head to face him.

"Do you want her to do this Hinata?" Naruto asked, looking past Kyuubi to Hinata. He didn't want Kyuubi doing anything to her without her consent.

"Ye-yes Naruto, I will let her do this. And only this." She said, her voice stern. She may be facing down the single most terrifying demon she'd ever heard of, but if Naruto was willing to fight her, she'd be damned if she didn't show some backbone.

"You're a very wise girl to accept my gift." Kyuubi said, pressing the finger onto Hinata's forehead, pumping her chakra into the seal.

Hinata began to scream for the pain of having demonic chakra put into her body. Naruto had his mind ready to recall Kyuubi if she did anything. He walked over to Hinata and held her hand as she screamed and began to visibly shake. The seal on her forehead had begun to glow bright red, then it slowly began to disappear. The location where it stood now replaced with new skin. Moments later, Kyuubi removed her finger from Hinata's forehead and smirked at her handiwork.

Naruto looked at Hinata the moment that Kyuubi had removed her finger. Hinata's eyes had half closed, mostly from relief he had assumed. She seemed to be unconscious.

"Well, my work here is done." Kyuubi said, getting up from the couch and heading towards the stairs. "Oh, and kit." She smirked as the clock chimed midnight. "Merry Christmas." She said, heading upstairs to hold her daughter while she slept, something she had wanted to do for twenty-one years.

Naruto smiled faintly as he turned to Hinata, who had begun to move.

"Hey, you ok Hinata?" He asked, getting on the couch and sitting next to her, offering her support as she tried to sit up a bit more. She failed to do so and instead fell onto his lap.

"Naruto? I have a headache." She said bluntly, rubbing her forehead.

"Yeah, Kyuubi has that effect on people." Naruto said smirking. Hinata giggled slightly.

"Did it work?" She asked, wanting to know if the pain she was in currently was worth it.

"Yeah, it worked Hinata, no more seals for you." He said, propping her head onto his lap, allowing her to lay down facing up. She giggled again and smiled up at him.

"Merry Christmas Naruto." She said, her eyes closing, showing how tired she was.

"Merry Christmas Hinata." He said back, stroking her hair as he watched her fall asleep on his lap. He was perfectly ready to fall asleep there, when a knock on his door interrupted his thoughts. He sighed and gently placed Hinata's head onto a pillow. He went to his door and checked the peep hole, surprised to see Gaara standing there.

Gaara hadn't been in Konoha much. Being the Kazekage had taken up much of his time. Not to mention training himself on how to control his sand. Without the Shikaku, he couldn't control it as well and had thus been training vigorously to regain his former mastery of it. So Naruto's look surprise to see the Kazekage at his doorstep was understandable as he opened his door.

"Hello Gaara, may I ask what you are doing here?" Naruto said as he opened his door to the red-haired man before him. Gaara was dressed in what seemed to be a more stuffed 'winter' version of his casual Kazekage uniform.

"Hello Naruto, I'll answer your question as soon as I am inside. May I come in?" He asked, his voice still with its air of unconcern.

Upstairs, Kyuubi's ears perked up again. Hearing the redhead intrigued her, she had never talked to anyone who had cheated death before, aside from Naruto but that had been with her own intervention.

"Yes please do come in." Naruto said, side stepping to allow Gaara inside his home.

"Thank you Naruto" Gaara said, proceeding foreword.

What surprised Naruto was to see Gaara had two sand coffins follow him in, both of which were floating in the air slightly behind him. What surprised him more was to see two sets of Byakugan eyed faces showing.

"Neji? Mr. Hyuuga?" Naruto asked, surprised that Gaara had them.

"Hello Naruto." Neji said, his eyes darting around the room and resting on Hinata's sleeping form. Haishi's eyes did that same and both of them seemed to relax a little.

Naruto noticed that Neji didn't have his headband on and that the seal was indeed gone. He had been slightly worried that the council had simply used a genjutsu to fool Hinata.

"What the hell is going on Gaara?" Naruto asked the Kazekage who seemed to have changed back into his regular outfit. Naruto noticed some sand seeping out of his clothes and assumed that Gaara had simply stuffed his uniform with condensed sand as a temporary coat.

"I originally came here to wish you a Merry Christmas." Gaara stared, looking at Naruto. "Merry Christmas by the way Naruto." He said.

"Likewise to you Gaara."Naruto said, thinking it would be rude not to wish him the same.

" Thank you. As I was saying, then I spotted these two" Gaara nodded his head towards the two sand coffins behind him. "attempting to get into your house through the upper story windows." He pointed upwards to the ceiling.

"If you will allow me to explain." Neji stated, his voice mostly calm, but there was a subtle hint of annoyance. "We were attempting to see if Hinata had come here when she ran away from the compound."

"Yes, I'm very worried about my daughter." Haishi said, slightly irritated that he had been caught by someone so much younger and less experienced in combat than himself. But he had seen that his daughter was safe and that had calmed him down a bit. "She was very upset when she left and we have been searching for her for quite some time now."

"If it would not be too much to ask Kazekage-sama, would you mind putting us down?" Neji asked, his eyes on Gaara.

"Should I Naruto? "Gaara asked, his voice completely serious.

"Yeah, put them down Gaara." Naruto said, smiling as Gaara loosened the sand around Neji and Hinata's father, allowing them to land on his floor gently. Gaara simply turned his sand into a tan colored armchair and sat on it.

Neji and Haishi ran over to the sleeping form of Hinata, Haishi parted her hair and his eye widened when he didn't see the seal. Neither of them had thought to put on winter clothes and apparently were in their casual clothes Naruto noticed.

"Naruto…did you get rid of the seal?" Neji asked, he knew Naruto was powerful, but removing the seal by himself was a whole different level of power. Not even the Toad Sage Jiraya had been able to do it without assistance.

Naruto mentally winced, if he said, yes, then Haishi and Neji would surely ask him his method, to which he had no response. If he said, that is was a secret, a full investigation would be launched into the matter. He didn't feel like having Hyuugas die in experiments. And if he told them about Kyuubi, Tsunade would probably have a small stroke from knowing that he allowed the single largest threat to the village wander around with him in public, which he had done a few times when she concealed her tails.

"Oh, that idiot couldn't possibly do that himself. I did it." Kyuubi had begun down the steps and smirked as the two Hyuuga's eyes widened at her.

"The…the nine-tailed fox?" Neji's eyes grew in shock and fear. Haishi's eyes widened as well.

"You!" He shouted at Kyuubi, who smirked.

"Me? Yes, I removed her seal, and I'll be his bitch before I tell you stuck up Hyuugas how I did it." She said, pointing to Naruto, who chuckled.

Gaara raised his nonexistent eyebrows at her. Shikaku had said that the Kyuubi was a female, which now was blatantly obvious that she was quite a woman indeed. He smirked as she mocked the Hyuuga's former, and current head clansmen.

"Kyuubi, are you going to introduce yourself to half the village before I get some sleep tonight?"

"Not if I can help it." She responded. She then strolled over to Gaara, who immediately stood up and allowed his sand to pool at his feet, creating a small pool of sand around him around five feet wide.

"If you wish to ask me something, I suggest you do it from a safe distance." Gaara said, concentrating on keeping the sand ready to jump up at a seconds notice.

"Oh, didn't Shikaku teach you to respect your superiors?" she asked, smiling as she stood at the edge of his sand pool.

"Heh, that stupid raccoon dog taught me to be wary of those who have more power than me. Nothing else" Gaara responded, his face betraying a hint of amusement at his chance to mock the demon that had lived in him.

"Ahh, so he wasn't as big an idiot as I thought. I was just wondering why you would come so early on Christmas, that is all." She pulled her ponytail so it was in front of her and she twirled a few strands of it around her fingers.

"I do not sleep, I found no reason not to visit one of my friends this early. If he had been asleep, I would have waited patiently inside, I do know how to take care of myself." He said, bluntly, his lack of interest back in his voice.

"Ahh, and you had no interest in seeing the Hokage before you arrived?" She questioned, enjoying her verbal battle with him.

"Ms. Kyuubi, as fascinated as I am with your apparent interest in verbally arguing with me, I merely came to give Naruto my best wishes for his holidays and a gift." Gaara said, as his sand went to his right hand and left, showing a small box within it. His sand then resumed its grasp on the present and handed it to Naruto, who accepted it. The sand withdrew and Gaara turned to leave the house. "I've finished my business here. If you feel like chatting today Naruto, I'll be at the hokage's mansion where she is throwing a Christmas party." Gaara finished before he opened the door and stepped out into the snow. "Good day to you all." He said, his monotone still holding as he closed the door behind him with his sand.

"Such a shame, and he seemed like such a nice fellow too." Kyuubi said, smirking as Naruto gave her a strange look.

"Don't tell me you fell for Gaara." Naruto said, smirking. "I can assure you he has no interest in you." He said, knowing this to be a fact. Gaara had told him that he had no interest in marrying a woman unless she lived in Suna.

"No, he was just fun to talk to. You should tend to your other guests who have been very quiet this entire time." She said, heading back up the steps smirking all the way. Her tails disappeared up the step with a slight flick.

"Well, we came here to make sure that Hinata was alright." Neji said, looking at Naruto. After watching Gaara talk to the single most powerful demon he had heard of as though she were any other woman, he figured Naruto would be quite tired of guests and wish to be left alone. "We will take our leave, correct Lord Haishi?" he asked and stated at the same time.

"I suppose so, do tell her that we are waiting for her when she wakes up will you Naruto?" Haishi asked, nodding to Naruto as he and Neji headed towards the door.

"I will Mr. Hyuuga." Naruto said, smiling to them as they began to leave. "Have a Merry Christmas." He said before they had gotten outside his doorway.

"The same to you Naruto." Neji said, smiling.

"Indeed, Merry Christmas." Haishi said as he closed the door behind them.

Naruto turned back to his living room and picked up the blanket the Kiyoko had dropped when she had woken up when Hinata had first showed up, and draped it around Hinata's sleeping body.

"Sleep tight Hinata." He thought as he laid on the floor in front of the couch. He had a feeling that Kyuubi had given his bed to Kiyoko and decided that he should allow her to stay there. He had slept on worse than the floor anyway.

He looked at the clock which now read one thirty-five. He chuckled, it had been one hell of a Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. He could hardly wait to see what else was waiting for him this holiday.


End file.
